My space: journeys into the void

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Astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo 14 Lunar Module pilot, moves across the lunar surface as he looks over a traverse map during extravehicular activity (EVA). Lunar dust can be seen clinging to the boots and legs of the space suit. Date: 02/06/1971NASA

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Astronaut F. Story Musgrave, anchored on the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s robotic arm, prepares to be elevated to the top of the Hubble Space Telescope during Hubble’s first servicing mission in 1993. Astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, inside the shuttle payload bay, assists Musgrave. NASA

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Last updated at 10:00AM, June 2 2011

Four astronauts describe what it was like to travel beyond the limits of Earth, and join a very exclusive club

Edgar Mitchell (US)

Astronaut on Apollo 14

In space 1971, aged 40

After the Russians launched Sputnik [the first man-made object in
space], I realised that human destiny had changed and something magnificent
had just happened. I wanted to be a part of it.

On January 31, 1971, I launched with Alan Shepard and Stuart Roosa on the
Apollo 14 mission. Looking back at the Earth, you can see the thinness of
the atmosphere that surrounds our planet, only a couple of hundred thousand
feet thick really, that’s all that protects us. And the stars are ten times
as bright